Imphal and Kohima

Fought between 7 March and 18 July 1944, the Battles of Imphal and Kohima were the turning point of one of the most gruelling campaigns of the Second World War (1939-45). The decisive Japanese defeat in north-east India became the springboard for the Fourteenth Army’s subsequent re-conquest of Burma.

The Context

On 7 December 1941 the Japanese attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbour and later declared war on Britain and the United States. In the days and weeks that followed the Japanese invaded European colonies across East Asia, including the British territories of Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and Burma. The purpose of these campaigns was to create a fortified perimeter around a self-sufficient Japan, which could be defended until the Allies tired of the war.

The British had long thought a Japanese land invasion of Burma unlikely so its defences had been neglected. When the attack began in January 1942 the British position quickly deteriorated and by early March the capital Rangoon and its vital port had been lost. As the Japanese pushed northwards, the surviving Allied troops under General Sir Harold Alexander carried out a five-month fighting retreat to India across 1,000 miles (1,600km) of difficult terrain.

In November 1943 a new phase of the war in the Far East began with the formation of South East Asia Command (SEAC) under Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. SEAC replaced India Command in control of operations and under its leadership the prosecution of the war took on a new energy. Previously, British troops had fallen back when the Japanese cut their lines of communication, and operations had practically ceased during the monsoon. Now the policy was to stand firm and rely on air supply when cut off, and to fight on through the harshest conditions.

In March 1944 the Japanese 15th Army began an advance against India’s north-east frontier to forestall a planned British invasion of Burma. They intended to capture the British supply bases on the Imphal Plain and cut the road linking Dimapur and Imphal at Kohima. With Imphal in their hands, the Japanese would also be able to interrupt air supplies to China. It would also give them a base from which to conduct air attacks against India. A Japanese diversionary attack in the Arakan was defeated at the battle of the Admin Box, but in early April the troops at Kohima and Imphal were surrounded.

The Armies

The plan to attack Imphal originated with Lieutenant-General Renya Mutaguchi (1888-1966), a veteran of campaigns in China, Malaya and Singapore. He led three Japanese divisions and one Indian National Army division. Mutaguchi was stubborn and quarreled with his divisional commanders during the campaign. The 31st Division, sent to attack Kohima, was led by Lieutenant-General Kotoku Sato (1893-1959). He considered Mutaguchi to be a ‘blockhead.’

Lieutenant-General Geoffrey Scoones (1893-1975) commanded 4th Corps at Imphal. This included the 17th, 20th and 23rd Indian Divisions. The 5th Indian Division, airlifted in as the battle developed, joined them there. Colonel Hugh Richards (d.1983), formerly of the Chindits, commanded the 2,500-strong Kohima garrison. Lieutenant-General Montagu Stopford (1892-1971) led 33rd Corps, which relieved Kohima and Imphal.

Overall command of British-Indian forces during the campaign fell to Lieutenant-General William Slim (1891-1970) commander of Fourteenth Army. Slim was responsible for restoring the morale of the soldiers following the setbacks of 1942-43. He emphasised the need for jungle warfare training and the use of more aggressive tactics that included the formation by surrounded units of defensive 'boxes' that were supplied by air.

The Battle

Imphal, capital of Manipur state, lay in a plain surrounded by hills. The main British base in the area, it was held by Lieutenant-General Scoones’ 4th Corps of Fourteenth Army. Lieutenant-General Renya Mutaguchi’s plan relied on his men quickly annihilating 4th Corps and seizing its supplies before his own communications and logistics broke down. The Japanese 33rd Division would cut off the 17th Indian Division south of Imphal and shortly afterwards the 15th Division would attack from the north-east, severing the road to Kohima, some 80 miles (120km) away in Nagaland. Lieutenant-General Kotoku Sato’s 31st Division would simultaneously surround Kohima to prevent any relief from Dimapur, which was a further 40 miles (64km) to the north.

The Japanese offensive started well. On 29 March they cut the Imphal-Kohima road and almost surrounded the 17th Division. They then quickly isolated the hilltop town of Kohima, capturing all but the central ridge by mid-April. The commander at Kohima, Colonel Hugh Richards, had hastily organised a scratch force from his 2,500-strong garrison, many of whom were non-combatants. It was built around 4th Battalion, The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment and the Assam Regiment. Elements of 161st Indian Brigade, stationed at Jotsoma two miles to the west, also reinforced the garrison.

Faced by 15,000 Japanese, the British-Indian troops held a tight defensive perimeter centred on Garrison Hill. Between 5 and 18 April Kohima saw some of the bitterest close-quarter fighting of the war. In one sector, only the width of the town’s tennis court separated the two sides. When on 18 April the relief forces of the British 2nd Division arrived, Richards’s defensive perimeter was reduced to a shell-shattered area only 350 metres square.

Mutaguchi had underestimated his enemy’s defensive skills. Likewise he misjudged the Allies’ ability to bring up reinforcements. Mountbatten had immediately despatched the 2nd Division from India by road and rail to Dimapur where it joined 33rd Corps under Lieutenant-General Montagu Stopford for the bitterly contested march to relieve Kohima. On 14 April the British broke the Japanese roadblock at Zubza and reached Kohima four days later. Despite the arrival of the reinforcements, the battle continued to rage around Kohima until mid-May when Sato’s division began to withdraw. Stopford's men, assisted by 2nd Division, then cleared the road to Imphal and on 22 June they linked up with 4th Corps.

The latter had been under siege since 5 April. The Japanese made several attacks against Imphal’s defensive perimeter, particularly on the Nungshigum heights and in the Palel area, but the 5th, 17th, 20th and 23rd Indian Divisions held firm. The commander of Fourteenth Army, Lieutenant-General William Slim, outlined their struggle:

‘The fighting all around its circumference was continuous, fierce, and often confused as each side manoeuvred to outwit and kill. There was always a Japanese thrust somewhere that had to be met and destroyed. Yet, the fighting did follow a pattern. The main encounters were on the spokes of the wheel, because it was only along these that guns, tanks, and vehicles could move.’

Allied logistical and communications superiority were key. They had not only allowed the quick deployment of reinforcements from Dimapur, but also the airlifting of 5th Indian Division and its equipment from the Arakan to Imphal in only two days. During the battle the Royal Air Force flew in nearly 19,000 tons of supplies and over 12,000 men, and evacuated around 13,000 casualties. Continually supplied by air, the garrisons threw back the Japanese attacks in bitter close-quarter fighting until the relief forces reached them.

The Japanese could have withdrawn fairly easily had Mutagachi not insisted on continuing the offensive long after it was clear that it had failed. His plan had relied on using captured supplies and when these were not forthcoming his men starved in the worst of the monsoon conditions. The Japanese 15th Army, 85,000-strong, eventually lost 53,000 dead and missing. The British sustained 12,500 casualties at Imphal while the fighting at Kohima cost them another 4,000 casualties.

The Impact

Imphal-Kohima was one of the biggest defeats the Japanese Army ever suffered. Mutaguchi was relieved of command and recalled to Tokyo. He was forced into retirement in December 1944. That same month, in a ceremony at Imphal, the viceroy of India Lord Wavell knighted Slim, Scoones and Stopford.

After their defensive victory the British planned a new offensive aimed at clearing the last Japanese forces from northern Burma and driving them south towards Mandalay and Meiktila. Fighting through the monsoon and supplied by air, troops of the Fourteenth Army now crossed the River Chindwin. The 15th Corps took Akyab in the Arakan, while 4th and 32nd Corps won bridgeheads across the River Irrawaddy. After fierce fighting Meiktila and Mandalay were captured in March 1945.

It was a decisive victory won through the courage and endurance of the troops and the superb generalship of their commanders. The route south to Rangoon now lay open and 4th Corps was only 30 miles (48km) from the city when it fell to a combined air and seaborne operation in early May.

The Legacy

The India Peace Memorial, situated at Red Hill (Lotpaching), about ten miles (16km) from Imphal, commemorates the Japanese and Indian National Army (INA) troops who fell in the fighting. It was inaugurated in March 1994 on the 50th anniversary of the battle following the efforts of Japanese and INA veterans to obtain a memorial. There is also a monument dedicated to the INA at nearby Moirang, where, on 4 April 1944, the Indian tricolour (flag) was first unfurled on the mainland. Moirang also has a statue of INA leader Subhas Chandra Bose and a museum about his troops.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at Imphal contains 1,600 graves and that at Kohima 1,420. There are also several monuments to British and Indian units that fought at Kohima as well as the Kohima Cremation Memorial that commemorates the 917 Hindus and Sikhs killed there. The cemetery lies on the slopes of Garrison Hill and also contains the British 2nd Division’s memorial. The inscription on the latter has become famous as the ‘Kohima Epitaph’. Attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds, it reads:

‘When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today’

In Britain both battles are memorialised by displays at the Kohima Museum at Imphal Barracks, York. They are also commemorated by the work of organisations such as the Burma Star Association, founded in 1951 to assist veterans of the Burma fighting, and the Burma Campaign Society, an organisation set up to bring about reconciliation between Japanese and British soldiers and their descendants. The Kohima Trust also commemorates the battle by providing educational assistance to young people in Nagaland as a way of honouring the help given to the British by the Nagas in 1944.

96 comments

My great uncle pvt Leslie Wain was in the 2nd Battalion Border Regiment and i think they were involved in the battle for Imphal,he must have survived the battle as he was killed by a japanese sniper on 3rd feb 1945.any photos of the 2nd please.

MY father lance cpl George Lee was killed at Jotsoma close to Kohima.April 28 1944.He was in the RAC & Is buried in the cemetary at Kohima.Wish i could find more details.I do have the diary he kept up till a few days before he was killed.

My grandfather was part of this as well although as mentioned quite a bit of the role of people of Indian origin during that time has not been publicized much. I came upon the link with the references to fighting over a tennis court as getting any historical records from other sources has been rather futile. I think anyone subjected to the horrors of war are likely to face PTSD--taking another human life can not be trivial--even under the aegis of patriotism.

Historically this was one of WWII's geopolitical great games and figuring out access to natural resources and manpower. At the time, India was under British rule, so the Japanese used that to their advantage under the Asia for Asians movement from the propaganda and psychological angle. Lee Kuan Yew captured it quite well with the following statement:

"My colleagues and I are determined that no one--neither the Japanese or the British --had the right to push and kick us around. We were determined that we would govern ourselves and bring up our children in a country where we can be self-respecting people."

Even now--see how we form global alliances as the concept of colonization had lost it's allure in the current century. When leaders chose to be divisive based on religion, ethnicity, sex, what have you and at the same time rely on a global supply chain for resources, it probably requires a cold hard look and some introspection of what we have learned from history.

A man named Vikeyienyu Nagi (V. Nagi) is still alive here in Kohima, Nagaland in India's Country, who was the British Labour Corps Commander during the 2nd World War under the leadership of Army Major General JOHN M.L GROVER, 2nd Division, British Army. He was born in 1919 and is 97 years old and still alive today by Gods Grace. He was awarded three Medals by the British Empire 1. Burma Star 2. 1939-1945 Star and 3. British Empire Medal. During that time, DC Pawsey was in charge Naga Hill District, DC Adam- Chadu Pallel to Salween, DC Wims- Ration incharge Kohima, DC Eric Lambert- Battle of Kohima & Civil Administration and Mr. V. Nagi worked with this man and so he knows the life of Army Major General JOHN M.L GROVER, 2nd Division, British Army, According to him Lt. General William was never in Kohima or never fought the battle of Kohima with British Army. Mr. V. Nagi is from Jotsoma Village and Major. General JOHN M.L GROVER resided here in this Village. Now the villagers of Jotsoma have built a monument and erected a large stone at the place where Major General Gover resided in remembrance of him as he had saved this village from this ferocious battle. The Japanese Army came from Burma to fight the battle where Lt.General. Kotuku Sato was the Army General. Their base camp was at Jakhama Village (My Village). You need to know more email me.

My father Edward Thomas Culmer was in Kohima and took part in the battle of the tennis courts. He was awarded the military medal but we don't know what for as he was at dunkerque first. Would be grateful for any information regarding my dad.

My father Captain Peter Doresa served with the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment in Burma, this is his story ......

At first light on April 5 1944, 4th Battalion the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment (4 QRWK) was on the move to Kohima, north-east India, to reinforce the garrison which was under increasing pressure from a build-up of Japanese forces. As they approached the town, passing a deserted hospital and a chaos of abandoned stores, their trucks were fired on and they made the rest of the way on foot.
The Japanese closed in on April 6 and, for almost two weeks, the battalion endured relentless bombardment by mortars and anti-tank guns by day; to this was added fire from snipers who strapped themselves into the tops of trees. By night, artillery concentrations were the precursor of charges of massed infantry screaming and blowing bugles.

Sometimes, the enemy’s tactics were more subtle. The crack of a sniper’s rifle at night was often designed to provoke a response and reveal the location of the defenders’ trenches. Then the Japanese would mimic British voices with cries of “For God’s sake let me through – the Japs are after me!”

Time and again, the enemy were found to be dug in and too firmly established to be dislodged by anything less than a full-scale attack, and the casualties that this might incur were unaffordable.
My father, a platoon commander in “D” Company, was ordered to clear the enemy from some huts which were surrounded by an ammunition dump. He went forward and bombed the position, setting the dump ablaze. Shells, mortar bombs, grenades and small arms ammunition exploded, sending shrapnel flying in all directions. The Japanese were driven into the open where they were shot by the remainder of the company. My father shot more than 12 and escaped with a minor wound.

Later in the battle, the Japanese infiltrated 4 QRWK’s positions. Wearing gym-shoes and with their weapons wrapped in cloth to prevent any noise, they slipped through under cover of darkness. My father waited until they were within a few yards of his trench before giving the order to fire. The whole platoon opened up with tracer and parachute flares and forced the Japanese to withdraw. Two of the battalion’s companies inflicted about five times their total strength in casualties on the enemy.

After the battle, witnesses described the survivors as “sleepwalkers, haggard, hollow-eyed, bearded, their uniforms ragged and filthy, their faces caked with dried blood, some seemingly half-crazed with fatigue”.

My father was awarded an Immediate MC. Lance-Corporal John Harman, who served in the same company, was posthumously awarded a Victoria Cross for charging a Japanese trench that held five soldiers armed with automatic weapons.

I am an Indian. In modern India, at least among the general public, very little seems to be understood or discussed about the war with Japan. I first read of the battles of Northeast India through Paul Scott's novels of "The Raj Quartet," which I read last year, and today came to hear of the book "Kohima" by Arthur Swinson who took part in that battle. That led me to the Wikipedia page on the battle, and thence to the National Army Museum website. By all accounts the ultimate British victory in these crucial battles prevented Japan from possibly conquering India, which in turn could have (very differently) influenced the outcome of the war as a whole.

Though I was born only in 1979, I have always been fascinated and saddened by the events of the first and second world wars, and I therefore feel great respect for the soldiers on both sides who suffered terribly at these battles of Burma and the Northeast. Whatever be the politics of Empire, more Indians should care about their sacrifice. Indeed it was 'for our future', as mentioned in the war memorial epitaph.

My mother was a nursing sister with Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS), and served in Burma. I'm pretty sure that she was somehow involved in supporting the defence of Kohima and/or Imphal. She never spoke of it, but I remember my father telling me that there was period when she was uncomfortably close to the Japanese.
Apart from references to a military hospital at Manipur, I have found little convincing detail of the role of QAIMNS personnel in this period, and would welcome any concrete information about this.

My great uncle Ernest Harrison of the Durham Light Infantry was killed in the battle for the tennis courts. I know very little about him about him as my father and grandfather never spoke of him. I only know his body was never recovered. If anyone can help me with any further information i would be grateful.

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